One thing’s for sure, if you’re [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Jennifer Lopez[/lastfm] people are going to pay attention to your every move. From the early onset of her career, the women managed to figure out how to make the media care what she’s up to.

Although she’s equal parts American Idol judge, mother, actress and pop star, nothing’s changed. If anything, her life has intensified, which we’d hoped would fuel the efforts behind Lopez’s seventh studio album Love?

However, it seems all the production, all the life experience and the biggest fan base in the world couldn’t clean up the discombobulated tracks that make up Love?

It’s not that the songs are bad–’cause they’re not. In fact, a shining example of what Lopez is capable of is the lead single “On The Floor. ” It’s the perfect girl power anthem that forces you to get up and dance no matter what your mood is. This paves the way for the real problem with the album–it’s got a complete identity crisis.

Love? is unsure if it’s a dance album or a collection of ballads. Sadly, it’s both and ends up feeling like a poorly put together mixtape of your favorite artist.

At this point in the game, Lopez should have been able to self-edit, knowing that she’s always had major hits with dance music because her core audience loves when she gets up and moves.

Still, the trick of artistry has gotten the best of her, as it’s obvious that in an attempt to show personal growth as a woman, wife, mother and singer she may have lost herself.

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez // Getty Images

Don’t get me wrong, the songs themselves are perfectly good singles, but as a cohesive whole they fall flat because they do not jam together.

It’s as though they’ve put together the perfect team of athletes, all the best at what they do, but none of them work well together and ultimately fail.

A basic part of producing an album is giving it that defining touch that makes it work as a whole, each song working with and playing off the one before and after it, which Love? doesn’t do.

In terms of singles, there’s plenty on the album, but I’d be surprised if the album as a whole does better than the sales of singles.

But in today’s economy, sometimes the best you can do is sell a single. And if that’s what Jennifer Lopez was going for, then I guess she did a pretty alright job.

Love? by Jennifer Lopez

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